Why You Should Build Your Own Website

More than 50% of Britain’s smallest companies still don’t have a website according to The Office of National Statistics (ONS). Only 46% of micro firms (1-10 employees) have an online presence, compared to 81% of businesses with between 10 and 49 employees and 97% of large organisations with up to 1,000 staff. The information was based on research of over 11,000 UK businesses that operate in diverse sectors, from the service industry to construction.

Some of the reasons given for not operating a website were cost, time, and knowledge required. Whilst these are reasonable concerns, there are options available to produce a professional solution for a fraction of the cost of hiring a web developer to build a bespoke site.

“I don’t know how to write in code”

Learning how to build your own website doesn’t mean you need to know how to write in code/HTML. A good Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress will allow the user to create a great looking website fairly easily from scratch. Using pre-built themes amongst a simple online interface, if you are able to use a word processor such as Word then you should be able to create a website yourself.

“It costs too much to build a website”

Hiring a web developer or agency to design your website could cost hundreds, if not thousands of pounds. This large, upfront cost can be off putting to many small businesses. However, there are plenty of CMS that are available without charge such as WordPress, Joomla & Drupal.

“Building a website is too time consuming”

This may be a viable excuse if using a firm to design your website but this is rubbish if putting together a site of your own. A WordPress site could be online within hours and with it’s preview mode you are able to see your progress as you go.

“I already have social media accounts”

A lot of smaller businesses see having a Facebook page as a viable alternative to having their own website. Whilst strong social media platforms are key to the success of many companies, they should run alongside a website not instead of.

“Websites require a lot of maintenance”

Whilst it’s important to keep on top of updates, many Content Management Systems have auto-update features meaning this is taken care of without the owner needing to log in. Adding regular content to a site is beneficial but a blog post every month will only take an hour or so.

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With hosting plans from just £25 per year it can cost much less than you think to build your own website for your business…